Hello everyone,
First of all, our background. I am a soldier in Iraq, getting ready to come home for a couple weeks on leave! Yay! My wife is 8 months pregnant, expecting to give birth while Im home! Double Yay! Our son is having behavior in school, and will likely be expelled soon. So along with seeing counselors and such, we are pulling him out of his last month of school, and homeschooling over the summer. To re enter school next year he will need to take a test to show he is at a satisfactory level to enter the 6th grade. Now he is a very smart kid, but struggles a bit in math and english. We dont have very much extra money saved up, with the baby coming, and the move back home coming soon. We have already bought a saxin math 5/6 kit, as my wife really liked the format. But what would be a good choice for the rest of the subjects to keep him fresh on. We were considering getting 6th grade textbooks, but this can get expensive, especially with answer books too. Would this be a good choice, as all he needs is something to keep him refreshed on everything? http://www.learningthings.com/Items/FSP0769629067.htmOr any other suggestions? Im sure we will have more questions to come. Any other advise would also be great!
Thanx,
Steve

Second, I'd like to thank you and your family for your military service. Our military men and women and their families are the best!

Now - as to your curriculum decisions. A lot of history and science can be found for free on the Internet if all you're wanting to do is simply keep him in the habit of learning it. As for language studies (grammar & reading), there are a lot of things you could do here, but some of your choices will depend on if you want Christian curriculum or secular and how well-versed y'all are with grammar.

You might check with your son's school for reading list suggestions to have him prepared for next year and then grab those books from the library. If you're comfortable with grammar, you could simply purchase a student grammar workbook. If you're not, you might be better off finding a grammar textbook and have your son do exercises on a sheet of paper.

I used to teach English at a Christian school and liked ABeka's grammar workbooks. They did a good job of explaining the material and provided plenty of exercises to practice with.

It might help some to know exactly what your son struggles with in terms of math and English. You could also ask for suggestions on materials from his school since you are trying to prepare him to return in the sixth grade.

Redhead
"Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil." C.S. Lewis

Thank you very much! Thats a good idea to just get things off the internet. We copied the table of contents out of his current books so we would have a record of what he has done, and missed. As far as grammar, we were thinking it would be best to get a textbook of some kind. We are catholic, but not heavily practicing, so we prefer to keep religion seperate from school. Any suggestions of a good hs grammar book. We do pretty well in grammar, but teaching it is another thing. BTW we are from texas too, although just stationed there, not permanent residents.
Thanks!
Steve

Honestly, although ABeka is Christian, the grammar workbooks--- for middle school, at least--- weren't really overly influenced by it. Most of the sentences were pretty much the same as you'd find in any workbook, and it was clearly designed to teach grammar and not religion. I think if y'all are pretty good with grammar, a workbook like ABeka's would be good. I used to say the workbook could teach itself because the example sections explained everything and then gave samples of each concept.

Although I don't know where you are in Texas, there is a homeschool book fair coming up in Arlington in May on Mother's Day weekend: http://www.homeschoolbookfair.org/ There is another book fair in San Antonio May 18-19. They are Christian, but they might be worth a look (if nothing else, you might check out the list of exhibitors and go to their links).

I believe I used Glencoe for vocabulary when I was teaching. I'm sure McGraw Hill also has grammar textbooks that can be used. My biggest recommendation would be to see what he'll be using in the 6th grade and try to get the same text if possible. Y'all can then prep him for what's actually coming. Different grammar programs will emphasize different things; it would stink for him to work hard learning diagramming only to discover that his new teacher doesn't really care if they know it or not.

So, as far as my opinion goes, check with the school he'll be attending next year and get their recommendations. If that doesn't work out, grab an ABeka student workbook to cover the basics.

Redhead

"Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil." C.S. Lewis